Division I Women

Robert Morris Picks Up First NEC Victory

from press release

Brooklyn, N.Y. - The Robert Morris University
women's lacrosse team kicked off the road portion of its Northeast
Conference schedule with an afternoon contest at LIU-Brooklyn on
Thursday. Behind an offense that produced nineteen goals, the
Colonials picked up their first win in NEC play as they defeated
the Blackbirds, 19-11.

LIU-Brooklyn would open the scoring just 25 seconds in to the
contest as the Blackbirds capitalized on a RMU turnover in the
offensive zone and went end-to-end for the first goal. Robert
Morris would not wait long to respond as Brittany Byerly (Wexford,
Pa. / Pine-Richland) would net the first goal of the game for the
Colonials.

The Blackbirds would take a 2-1 lead before the Colonials
rattled off three consecutive goals over a span of just 1:43. Emily
Jamison (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) would score the first of
her three goals as she tied the game, 2-2. Just 31 seconds after
her first goal, Jamison would score again to give the Colonials the
lead for good, 3-2, as she scored both goals while RMU was down a
player after receiving a yellow card. The fourth Robert Morris goal
came from Emily VanDyne (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Thomas) to give
the Colonials a 4-2 lead just ten minutes in to the contest.

Just before the midway point of the half, LIU-Brooklyn would cut
the Robert Morris lead to a single goal, 4-3, before the Colonials
again scored three-straight goals. VanDyne would net her second
goal of the half just 16 seconds after the Blackbird goal to regain
the two-goal advantage for RMU. Lauren Roberts (Baldwinsville, N.Y.
/ C.W. Baker) would contribute her fifth goal of the season to
further increase the lead for the Colonials. VanDyne would complete
her hat trick with her third goal in a span of just over eight
minutes which made the score 7-3 in favor of the Colonials.

After a fourth goal by the Blackbirds, Roberts tallied her
second of the game to maintain the four-goal lead for Robert
Morris. A fifth goal for LIU-Brooklyn a short time later was
answered with two goals by Jessica Karwacki (Sparks, Md. /
Hereford). The Blackbirds would net the final goal of the first
half with twenty seconds remaining as the Colonials held a
four-goal advantage, 10-6.

The opening ten minutes of the second half belonged to Robert
Morris as the Colonials would score four times to increase their
lead to eight goals. The first three goals came from Kristin
Yoviene (Easton, Md. / Saints Peter and Paul) as completed the
natural hat trick. Yoviene's three goals came just 5:03 apart and
was followed up by Jamison's third goal of the afternoon as RMU
held a 14-6 lead.

The eight-goal advantage quickly shrunk during the middle of the
second half. In less than six minutes, the Blackbirds would score
five times to make the score 14-11 with 13:37 remaining. Robert
Morris closed out the game scoring the final five goals in response
to the run made by LIU-Brooklyn. Talia Waskowicz (Pittsburgh, Pa. /
North Allegheny) would put an end to the scoring run of the
Blackbirds with the 15th goal for RMU. Karwacki would become the
fourth Colonial to record a hat trick as she picked up her third
goal of the game with eight minutes remaining. Yoviene would then
add her fourth goal of the contest a short time later before
MacKenzie Lawler (Okemos, Mich. / Okemos) pushed the lead even
further. Roberts would finish the scoring with two minutes
remaining as she also joined the hat trick club with her third goal
that made the final score 19-11.

The Colonials would win 22 of the 32 draw controls while
Karwacki would corral 17 of them. Robert Morris directly caused
eight of the 24 LIU-Brooklyn turnovers while also forcing the
Blackbirds in to ten failed clearing attempts. Goaltender Kaitlin
Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) earned her fifth win of the
season that saw the Colonials improve to 5-5 for the 2013 season
and 1-2 in conference play.

Robert Morris returns to action on Saturday as it concludes a
two-game road trip with a contest against Wagner. The game against
the Seahawks is scheduled to start at Noon.